Nick Barlow's blog

Only time for a quick review of this one, the final book in Stross’ Merchant Princes series, which I found a bit disappointing. The series as a whole has been pretty interesting, but has suffered from a certain amount of narrative sprawl, as sub-plots spawn sub-plots, which makes it somewhat to pick up the threads again at the start of each book. This is the last book in the series, but it feels more like it ends at a convenient point rather than reaches a climax – maybe he’s leaving it open for a series of sequels – and I was left with a feeling of ‘oh, is that it?’ at the end.

That’s not to say there aren’t some fun and interesting bits on the way – and, if nothing else, he’s created a fascinating universe in this series – but the whole seems somewhat less than the sum of the parts and I found myself wishing he’d wrenched more out of the scenario and the questions left unanswered at the end. Some of which was exacerbated even more by reading some of his initial notes and ideas for the series, of course.

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